Some time ago, the Down Protestant Association forwarded a set
of very Anti-Roman-Catholic resolutions to Mr. Disraeli, and offered to him the leadership of the Protestant party ! Mr. Disraeli replies like a Dodona or Delphi- " The power of a public man in this country to effect anything great depends upon the degree of public opinion which sustains him ; and there- fore I highly appreciate this expression of sympathy from so important a body as that which you represent."
The Reverend Dr. O'Brien is now lecturing to the young men of Limerick. The sort of intellectual food they get from this Roman Ca- jbelic divine may- be guessed from a passage cut out of a " discourse " abounding in specimens of the same character— "England boasts of her Austins, her Wilfreds, her Georges. Her light went out to the ends of the earth, far and near ; and from the cloisters of
Scotland a thousand hymns swelled up to God many a winter's night and many a summer's morning. Carthage was the land of Austin ; Alexandria was the home of Ignatius; all have fallen. England now is simply a sink of the most beastly insults to God. It knows no more religion
(with some exceptions) than the beasts of the field. Scotland is writh- ing in a materialism that calls itself religious. Ireland is the is-
land of saints. In the face of such a union against us, and if there be no union for us, what are we to do ? Are we to hope that God will do for us what He has not done for England, what He has not done for Scot- land, what he has not dose for Egypt, what He has not done for Africa ? The people of all these places first forgot Him, and went the way of the Devil ; and here we feel him coming, with this difference, that while those nations walked with the livery of the Devil upon them, here he walks under the guise of malignity and falsehood."
At the meeting of the Banbury Agricultural Association, on Tuesday, there were few farmers and a poor show. Colonel North presided, and Mr. Henley was the chief speaker. He strongly urged the necessity of improving the dwellings and the status of the labourers.
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